function sprintf()
{
    if (!arguments || arguments.length < 1 || !RegExp)
    {
        return;
    }
    var str = arguments[0];
    var re = /([^%]*)%('.|0|\x20)?(-)?(\d+)?(\.\d+)?(%|b|c|d|u|f|o|s|x|X)(.*)/;
    var a = b = [], numSubstitutions = 0, numMatches = 0;
    while (a = re.exec(str))
    {
        var leftpart = a[1], pPad = a[2], pJustify = a[3], pMinLength = a[4];
        var pPrecision = a[5], pType = a[6], rightPart = a[7];
        
        //alert(a + '\n' + [a[0], leftpart, pPad, pJustify, pMinLength, pPrecision);

        numMatches++;
        if (pType == '%')
        {
            subst = '%';
        }
        else
        {
            numSubstitutions++;
            if (numSubstitutions >= arguments.length)
            {
                alert('Error! Not enough function arguments (' + (arguments.length - 1) + ', excluding the string)\nfor the number of substitution parameters in string (' + numSubstitutions + ' so far).');
            }
            var param = arguments[numSubstitutions];
            var pad = '';
                   if (pPad && pPad.substr(0,1) == "'") pad = leftpart.substr(1,1);
              else if (pPad) pad = pPad;
            var justifyRight = true;
                   if (pJustify && pJustify === "-") justifyRight = false;
            var minLength = -1;
                   if (pMinLength) minLength = parseInt(pMinLength);
            var precision = -1;
                   if (pPrecision && pType == 'f') precision = parseInt(pPrecision.substring(1));
            var subst = param;
                   if (pType == 'b') subst = parseInt(param).toString(2);
              else if (pType == 'c') subst = String.fromCharCode(parseInt(param));
              else if (pType == 'd') subst = parseInt(param) ? parseInt(param) : 0;
              else if (pType == 'u') subst = Math.abs(param);
              else if (pType == 'f') subst = (precision > -1) ? Math.round(parseFloat(param) * Math.pow(10, precision)) / Math.pow(10, precision): parseFloat(param);
              else if (pType == 'o') subst = parseInt(param).toString(8);
              else if (pType == 's') subst = param;
              else if (pType == 'x') subst = ('' + parseInt(param).toString(16)).toLowerCase();
              else if (pType == 'X') subst = ('' + parseInt(param).toString(16)).toUpperCase();
        }
        str = leftpart + subst + rightPart;
    }
    return str;
}
